Beauty and the Beast
by DREWHHR
Summary: On Harry's 17th birthday, he is transformed into a terrifying Beast. A Beast that wants to kill and the only one who can calm him is Hermione. Kinda based on Doomsday/Davis and Chloe on Smallville & the Hulk. Harry/Hermione. Weasley bashing
1. Beast

**Hey, wassup? So, I am starting a new story. I got this idea from Smallville. It's based on Doomsday/Davis Bloome and Chloe.**

**It's kind like the Hulk in a way, but I wanted it to be more like Doomsday, except he's not from a different planet.**

**Summary: Harry Potter is a Beast. On his seventeenth birthday, he turns into a Beast. He can still morph back into his human form when he calms down. The problem is that the Beast is a murderer and the only one who can calm him is Hermione.**

**This has NOTHING to do with the Disney movie.**

**Weasley Bashing.**

**Here's chapter one.**

**Beauty and the Beast**

**Chapter One**

**_Beast_**

It was a dark and dreary night when it happened that summer. It was July the thirtieth at eleven-fifty that night. _Ten more minutes and I'll be legal_, he thought to himself as he looked at the clock. Harry Potter was a medium-sized young man with the facial features of a man much older than him, showing that he endured a lot in his seventeen years. His dark hair was a mess, a feature he inherited from his father. The only thing that contained the smallest bit of brightness were his emerald-green eyes. They were dull, yes, but were the only thing of color on him.

Harry rolled over onto his back, groaning. He wish he could fall asleep and rest. He needed it, but he could not fall asleep, because when he slept, he dreamed. And they weren't happy dreams. They were dreams of all of his loved ones dying one by one right in front of his eyes, leading to Hermione. His best friend.

He wondered why it was she that was last. She was his best friend and always stuck by him and pushed him to go on. That was the reason. He thought he could go on without the others. But without Hermione, it was hopeless. He was dead without her. A blank void. A broken heart laid out on the dirt road, ready to be trampled by all that walked upon it. He was a lost cause.

He had a picture of her on his bedside table, along with the moving picture of his parents. In the picture, she was smiling and showing her white, perfect teeth. He looked at it and smiled back. It did not reach his eyes.

He checked the time again. _11:53._ He groaned again. He planned to leave his relatives' home the next morning first thing. He was tired of their nonsense and abuse and slavery. He wanted to be free, wanted to run away where no one could find him.

But the world needed him. He had to protect the ones he loved. It was prophesized he was to defeat Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all time. He did not want to, but it was something he had to do.

Besides, even if he _did _run away, it would be pointless as Hermione probably would track him down and be barely able to get far. She had that fire in her. If she was devoted to something, she would complete her assignment.

Harry felt so trapped in his cage of twenty square feet. He was used to it, though. After all, his previous room was a cupboard under the stairs. His eyes trained on the clock again and he smiled a bit. _11:57. Three minutes. Three minutes, Potter._ He would be a man in three minutes. An adult.

He just leaned his head back down and thought. He thought about how happy he would be if he killed Voldemort. He would be free to live his life the way he wanted. He would get married and raise a family. He would possibly become an Auror. He would live in the country where his nearest neighbor was a mile away.

Oh, he wished it could be like that. He wished so much.

Suddenly, the clock changed to _12:00_. Midnight. "Happy Birthday, Harry," he told himself. Suddenly, he felt a pain in his chest. He gasped in shock at it. He was thrown off of his bed and onto the floor. He was on his hands and knees, gasping for air. He felt something in him, just clawing to come out. Harry did not know what it was, but he fought against it, to keep it at bay. However, he was not strong enough. He looked in the mirror on his wardrobe door at his reflection and widened his eyes at what he saw. His eyes were no longer green, but red. His face was mutating, his body was changing. A dark, thick, black skin started to grow on his body. He looked like a big monster. He _was_ a big monster. However, it was not complete yet as he was still changing. His clothes ripped off of him, including his bottoms as his body got bigger and small spikes grew. His glasses flew off, shattering in the dark room. He began to release his hold on the force that was ripping through, unleashing the monster.

And then, he knew no more.

* * *

The Beast roared very loudly and woke up the Dursleys. "POTTER!" it heard the man yell. There was a pounding of the floor shaking and the door burst open. Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley stood there shocked at the creature. The Beast roared again in their faces and they were all frightened of it. They turned around and tried to run away.

_Tried._

The Beast grabbed Mr. Dursley from behind and threw him against the wall. Hard. His body cracked and skull smashed. The Beast killed him. Mrs. Dursley rushed to her fallen husband, shocked. The Beast, instead, grabbed her around the neck and threw her down the stairs. The Beast heard a crack, signifying that her neck was broken. Dudley kicked the rough, black leg of the Beast and stubbed his toe. "Ow!" The Beast looked at him and grabbed his fat body and hurled him through the wall.

The Beast anchored its foot on Vernon Dursley's body and roared to the heavens above. It turned around and went into the bedroom. It was about to jump out of the window when it saw the picture on the bedside table of Hermione. It lowered its fat finger to it and stroked the cheek of the girl in the picture. "Her-my..." it said.

Then, it turned again and jumped out of the window, breaking the glass and part of the wall. Its mission? Get out of there.

* * *

The Beast had no idea where it was going, but it had an idea. It followed its instincts. It went around the city, around the motorway, out of sight as much as possible, but it wanted to kill. It wanted to kill as many people as possible. It already killed three people and wanted to murder more. It did not seem to care, though.

It finally arrived to its destination. It had went through the woods to the backyard of a nice, white, two-story home with black shutters and a lovely garden. In the backyard was a grill and a hammock that was great for reading in the sun. The Beast looked up to a window on the second story as a wonderful scent filled the air.

It could smell her. She smelled of lavender and parchment. Just like her. The Beast smiled and fell to the ground, exhausted. It rolled onto its back to take in the scent and it fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was woken up by the sun's bright rays. He was covered in sweat and grime and in the fetal position. He gasped as he woke up, panting. "Uh, Charlotte?" he heard a call from behind him. "Did we order a boy?"

Harry looked up at him. But it was weird. He wasn't wearing his glasses, but he could see _very _clearly. It was a man in his pajamas. He had a coffee mug in his hand and looked very shocked at seeing Harry. He had dark brown hair and familiar brown eyes.

Harry was too sore to move. What had happened last night? He just sunk back to the ground. "Bring a blanket!" the man hollered back into the house.

Soon, a woman joined him and the two cautiously moved toward Harry. The woman had light brown hair and blue eyes. She was thin and had familiar facial features. A soft blanket went around him, covering his bare body.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked confused, looking around, not remembering how he got there in the first place.

"Oh no, boy, we'll be asking the questions around here," the man growled.

"Jacob, be nice," the woman swatted her husband lightly. "He's probably lost." She knelt down next to him and smiled at him. "It's okay. You're in Kent. My name is Charlotte Granger. This is my husband Jacob. What's your name?"

Harry widened his eyes at "Granger". "Wait, 'Granger'?" Charlotte nodded.

"Harry...?" he heard from the doorway. They all looked and saw a Beauty standing there in her pink pajamas, her hair all messed up, with a confused look on her face.

He smiled.

TBC...

* * *

**Well, there's chapter one. Hope you liked it. It's beginning to turn into the Hulk now. I just watched it with my dad. Like literally just now. Haha. I tried to make 2,000 words. I still am. Haha. I'll just talk about how my few weeks went like I usually do. But, hey, first chapters don't have to be long, right?**

**Just want to let everyone know: I feel like a big douchebag and a murderer. Yesterday, I was driving home from Books-A-Million and a squirrel ran across the road right in front of my car and I tried to swerve a bit to get it UNDER my car and not the tire, but it was too late. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the little bugger like flopping around on the pavement. It broke my heart and I wanted to cry. I wanted to get out and help the little guy, but I didn't think about that until later. I feel HORRIBLE! I hope he's okay. He could've been looking for nuts for his children's dinner. I feel like a douchebag.**

**And then I called a girl in my class an "oompa loompa" because her tan was like DARK. I was just messing with her, but she took it seriously. And I feel SOOO BAD. Haha.**

**I'm making brownies tomorrow for my friend's birthday Friday. Yay! It's gonna be sooo good! I can't wait to eat brownies!**

**Next chapter: Beast has another episode**

**Anyway, pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


	2. Beauty

**Hey, thanx for the reviews! Means a lot. I'm going to be trying to update as much as I can. Work is being piled on me at skool. I'm doing the best I can.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 2!**

**Chapter Two**

**_Beauty_**

Hermione Granger was lying in her bed when she heard her father yell inside. She had just woken up and could not understand what he was saying. So, she walked down the stairs and did not see either of her parents in the house. Then, she heard their voices outside, so she went to inspect. And sure enough, there they were. Her mother was kneeling next to a figure, while her father was standing over it. She walked outside to get a closer look. Once she could get a good view, she saw who it was and gasped. "Harry...?"

She watched as her parents and best friend looked at her. Harry smiled at her. She gave a confused one back and rushed over to him, falling next to him on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I don't know," he looked around confusedly. "I don't remember how I got here, or why I'm...naked." He blushed deeply.

"Harry, does Dumbledore know you're here?" she asked him.

He seemed to think really hard on this question. "I don't think so."

"Where are your glasses?"

"I don't know but I can see clear as day now. I don't know why I can, though."

"Come on, let's get you inside," she said helping him sit up. He adjusted the blanket so that it went around his shoulders and stood up. Hermione led him into the house, followed by Charlotte and Jacob.

"Harry, Jacob will get you some warm clothes," Charlotte said. Seeing her husband's confused look, she gave him a reproving look and he nodded. "I'll be...right back," he said and left the room.

Harry stood there with a far-off look on his face. "Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked placing her hand on his bare shoulder.

"I'm not sure," he answered after a while, still staring into space. "But I have a feeling that something bad has happened."

"Well, we'll worry about that later, Harry. You look very tired. I'm sure you slept long, but you might need more. Once Dad comes back with clothes, you'll change into them and we'll show you the guest room, okay?"

He nodded and gave her a smile.

"Oh," she remembered. "Happy Birthday, Harry!" She hugged him and kissed his cheek, making him blush, not going unnoticed by Charlotte.

"It's your birthday?"

He nodded again.

"Well, I'm going to have to bake a cake."

"No, ma'am, it's okay. You don't have to do that. I don't want to cause trouble."

"Oh, no, you won't, I promise. You are Hermione's friend and very important to us. I admit, finding you naked in my backyard is not the kind of introduction I wanted of you and is very misleading, but I trust the two of you," Hermione's mother said.

"Mum, are you saying what I think you are saying?" she blushed deep red. "Ha-Harry and I are just friends."

"I know, dear."

They couldn't continue the conversation anymore because Jacob came back into the room with a set of clothes for Harry. "Here, Harry, these should fit."

"Thank you, sir," Harry told him taking the clothes from his hands and Hermione showed him where the bathroom was. He decided to take a shower and changed into a pair of blue, plaid pajama bottoms and a plain, white t-shirt.

He dried his hair as best he could and walked out of the bathroom to find his best friend standing there. "You feel better?"

"I think so," he replied sleepily.

"You still can't remember what happened last night?"

He shook his head regretfully. He wanted to nod. He wanted to remember what happened to him.

"That's okay, we'll help you remember. Right now, though, you need to get some sleep. Come on," she led him down the hall to a bedroom that had a nice-looking beige bed and white walls. Harry really didn't pay attention to what the room looked like. He didn't really care. So he just laid down on the bed and Hermione sat down next to him on the bed, covering him up. "You warm enough?" He nodded and she smiled slightly.

"Harry, I'm going to be downstairs probably. I'll be helping Mum in the kitchen. Just come down if you need anything, okay?" He nodded again and he asked, "C-can you stay with me? I know it's sunlight, but I-I don't want to be alone." He looked everywhere but her face. "J-just until I fall asleep," he added quickly.

"Okay," was her answer and she waved her wand. The blinds closed tight and the curtains moved in front of the windows, covering the room in darkness. Hermione stood and made her way to the other side of the bed and got in. She laid down on a pillow right next to his face and she ran her hand through his hair. She watched as he closed his eyes at her touch and began to fall asleep. She began to hum a sweet tune to get him asleep faster.

When she heard his breathing even out, she knew he was asleep. She kissed his forehead and whispered, "Goodnight" even though it was morning and slipped out of the room. When she arrived to the kitchen, she saw her mother making breakfast and her father sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

"Hey, is he asleep?" Charlotte asked when she noticed her daughter in he room. Hermione nodded and sat down at the table.

"Do you think he could stay here for the rest of the summer? I don't think he would like to go back to his relatives."

"Yes, I think that would be lovely. It would be nice to have another face around the house. He could help you with that shed you are supposed to be building, Jacob." Jacob gave her a mock-glare from behind his newspaper and they all laughed.

After a while, Jacob asked, "So, Harry has no idea why he came here?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, he said he did not remember anything. He is not lying either. I know him."

"Is he harmless?"

"Yes, he is harmless. Harry would not hurt an insect...unless it bit someone he loved," she said with a smile. "That's one thing I love about him. He cares about the ones he loves and protects them as much as he can."

Charlotte gave her husband a knowing look, one that he was confused about. "Hermione," she left her post at the stove, turning it off and walking toward her daughter. "You like him, don't you?"

"Of course I do. He's my best friend," she said obviously.

"No, you're _in love_ with him, aren't you?"

Hermione thought about this for a minute. Was she? He was her best friend and cared for her, as she cared for him. She thought Harry was the perfect guy. He was selfless, very good-looking, great wizard, brave, loyal, and courageous. Perhaps she did have a soft spot for him in her heart. Perhaps she was in love with him. "I'm not sure," was her answer. "He is the perfect man, but I don't know if it is love."

Charlotte nodded and began to serve breakfast to her family.

All through breakfast, Hermione's mind could not get off of Harry.

* * *

Around two o'clock was when Harry finally woke up and stayed up. Hermione walked in his room to check on him and found him sitting up. "Hey, Harry, how are you feeling?"

He seemed to think about this for a moment. "Amazing, really amazing." He turned on the lamp on the bedside table so he could see her beautiful face.

She nodded. "Well, good." Her hands were behind her back, hiding something. " She brought them around to her front, revealing a well-wrapped rectangle. "Here, Happy Birthday, Harry." She held the gift out in front of him and he took it. Sitting down next to him, she watched as he tore the paper off and uncovered a photo album. On the cover it read, "Harry Potter Through the Years". He opened it and looked at the first page.

The first few pages were of his infancy. "I have been planning this since Fourth Year. When we went to Grimmauld, I asked...Sirius...if he had any baby pictures of you. He had some. So, I used them for this album. I hope you don't mind."

"No, it's okay." He grinned at seeing a picture of himself sitting in the sitting room of Potter Manor, playing with a toy train.

There was a big break in between his childhood, jumping to when they went to Hogwarts. There was a picture of himself and Hermione in the hospital wing. Harry had just woken up from his mini-coma after retrieving the Stone from Quirrel.

"Most of the pictures from Second Year on, Colin took with his camera," she informed.

Harry and Hermione looked through the rest of the album together, seeing Ron and the Weaselys in some with them.

As Harry closed the back cover, he looked at Hermione and said, "Thank you, Hermione. This is the best birthday present anyone can ever give me. I love it."

She blushed as he hugged her and kissed her cheek.

"You're welcome, Harry. Come on, let's go downstairs." She stood from the bed and held out her hand. He looked at it for a moment and then took it, letting her lead him out of the bed and down the stairs to the dining room, where Jacob was already seated at the long table.

"Hey, Harry, Happy Birthday, son."

"Thank you, sir."

"Here, Harry, you sit here," she pulled out the chair at the head of the table, thus releasing his hand, which felt cold to Harry when she slipped it out.

He sat down in the chair and then, Charlott Granger came out from the kitchen with a birthday cake with seventeen lit candles in the top. "_Happy Birthday to you..._" she began to sing and her family joined in. The cake was placed in front of him. It was covered in white icing with "_Happy Birthday Harry_" written in red icing.

When they finished singing, Hermione said from behind him, "Make a wish, Harry."

Harry closed his eyes and wished. Then, he inhaled and blew out his candles, blowing all of them out at the same time. The three Grangers clapped and cheered. Harry grinned at them.

"Thank you, all. Really. This has been the best birthday ever...even though it didn't exactly start out great," he told them as Charlotte took the cake from out in front of him to cut out four pieces.

"You're welcome, Harry," Charlotte said.

"No problem, son," Jacob clapped Harry on the back.

Hermione smiled and nodded at him and they ate their pieces of cake.

* * *

That night, the four of them sat around in the living room to watch the six o'clock news. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the couch. Harry had his head laying in Hermione's lap as she stroked his hair, which soothed him. Charlotte and Jacob were seated on a loveseat.

They watched a police chase, a reporter at a car crash, and a bank robbery. But it were the last few reports that caught the Grangers' and especially Harry's eyes.

"_A family of three was found dead today in their homes. But the strange thing is that the killer could have superhuman powers. Vernon Dursley was found dead in the hallway with an indention in the wall. His wife, Petunia, was found at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck. Their son, Dudley, was throw through a wall it looks like from upstairs in the hallway and landed by the cupboard under the stairs. The killer then ran into the spare bedroom and jumped through the window."_

Harry sat up and gasped. "That's the Dursleys," he told Hermione. "They're dead," he said disbelievingly.

"Who are they?" Charlotte asked.

"Harry's relatives," her daughter answered.

"Is that where you were before you came here?" asked Jacob.

Harry nodded slowly.

"I think whatever attacked them has something to do with how you got here naked with no memory of how or why and those missing hours," Hermione said. "It was in _your _room, Harry. It could have attacked you." She widened her eyes and looked close to tears.

"But it didn't," he told her darkly.

"_Delilah has a story on a creature sighting in West Kent that could link to the Dursley murder._"

"_Yes, I have here an eyewitness who said they spotted a large creature running through a field._"

"_He had black, rough skin and spikes on his arms and he was about eight feet tall. He was a Beast._"

Harry could barely pay attention to the rest of the news. He stood up and walked to the archway into the room and leaned on the wall. Hermione noticed his disappearance and stood up and walked over to him. "Harry...? Are you okay?"

"My things. My wand. My trunk. Hedwig. Its all still over there. I need them."

"Right, I'll get them," she said and Disapparated.

A few minutes later, she Apparated back with his wand, his trunk, and Hedwig's cage. She gave him his wand. "Thank you, Hermione."

She nodded and he brought his trunk upstairs to the guest room. He set Hedwig's cage on the desk and let her out, opening the window so she could go hunting.

He sat down on the bed and stared into space, thinking. He was interrupted a second later by the door opening. Hermione stood there looking at him. "Hey, 'Mione," he said.

"Hey," she replied and walked over to him. She crawled on the bed behind him and put her knees on either side of him so that she was kneeling behind him. "You okay, Harry?"

He nodded and she began to massage his shoulders. His eyes rolled back into his head at her touch and he let his head droop, giving her more access.

"I just...I just want this to be over. I want to be free of all of this. I'm tired of people dying because of me," he told her.

She paused her massaging and looked around to his front to look at him. "Harry, nobody died because of you."

"Yes. They. Did," he said through gritted teeth. "Sirius died because I didn't listen to you. I was stupid. Cedric died because I told him to gab the cup. I saw Wormtail. I could have helped him. You...you almost died because I was stupid. When I saw you get hit with that curse, I lost it. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't _think_. I was so angry. I wanted to _kill_ Dolohov. I wanted to murder someone. But when Neville told me he felt a pulse, I felt elation. Happiness. I was happy you were going to be okay."

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek. "Oh, Harry, it wasn't your fault. I promise you. I _chose_ to follow you there. I got myself into that trouble. I wanted to help you. I should have seen it coming anyway." She went back to massaging his shoulders.

"You-you're really good at this," he said smiling.

She chuckled a bit. "Thanks. My Mum used to do this to me when I was younger and had nightmares. It would soothe me and calm me down."

After a while, Harry asked, "Hey, Hermione...?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you...do you think they will find that creature?"

She thought about this for a minute. "I don't know, Harry. It's tough to say. All I know is that I do _not _want to cross his path."

* * *

That night, Harry began to get that urge again. The urge to release the darkness inside of him. He felt his eyes change and his clothes get tighter. He remembered they were not his clothes so he hurriedly took them off in fear of ruining Mr. Granger's clothes. He laid there naked and changing into the Beast.

He stood up and opened the window and jumped down to the ground. He landed like a cat on his feet and looked around. Seeing nothing, he ran into the woods behind Hermione's house to complete his transformation.

The rough, black skin grew and he felt the spikes on his face and arms. He panted as his voice changed and he roared loudly.

His vision went black.

* * *

The Beast had the sudden urge to kill. It ran through the forest as fast as it could to find a victim. It found one. It was a man trying to break and enter a house. He was in all black and had a ski mask covering his face. The Beast ran over to him and grabbed him, throwing him across the backyard. The man screamed as it got closer and closer to him. "What are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Beast angry," it responded and crushed the intruder's bones, instantly killing him.

The Beast felt the pleasure of killing and smiled, showing its abnormal teeth.

The Beast then moved on to its next victim of the night, while its Beauty lay in her bed sleeping soundlessly.

TBC...

* * *

**Well, there's chapter 2. Hope you liked it.**

**Pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


	3. Blood

**Thanx for the reviews!**

**Okay, so I no longer have my English stuff to weigh me down, thank the Lord. So I can concentrate on this. I'm going to try to fit some chapters in before Finals. I don't know.**

**Redbird27: well, it IS Harry Potter, the boy their daughter had spoken so highly of for seven years. They must have realized that he meant no harm.**

**badkidoh: well, he is based off of Doomsday from Smallville, who was nearly 7 feet tall, so around 7 feet.**

**This chapter does have some M-rated stuff in it. So, just warning you.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 3.**

**Chapter Three**

**_Blood_**

Harry woke up right before the sun came up in an abandoned alleyway, once again naked. He stood up and looked around for any clue of what happened last night. What he saw, shocked him. It was a dead body that was disfigured. Its arms were twisted and its face was almost unrecognizable. Harry was not sure if it was a male or a female. Did _he_ do this? Did he witness it? What happened?

He looked down at his hands and saw the evidence. Blood.

He began to panic. Why was there blood on him? It was on his face, his arms, his legs. There were splatters of it all over. He didn't feel hurt at all. He decided to put it in the back of his mind and Apparated back to Hermione's house. He found himself in the bathroom, so he went to take a shower.

He sighed as the warm water cascaded down his tense back. He watched as the water turned red as it went down the drain. He washed his body of the red liquid, but something made him pause. Something made him gasp. Something made his heart stop.

There were no cuts on him. Not a single scratch. Harry realized what this meant...

..._the blood wasn't his._

He sank to the ground, to the slippery tub, on his knees. He cowered into the fetal position. The hot water beat against his back and his face.

He began to cry.

"What have I done?"

* * *

Harry laid in his bed that morning. He had not been able to sleep since he found out what he had done. '_I really killed all of those people?_' he asked himself thoughtfully as he watched the morning news on the television that was in the guest room. There had been three more murders, all that looked like it was done by the Beast. However, it was justified. All of the victims were not good people. One was a drug addict and had been dealing crack. Another one stole a diamond from a big museum. They found that the third one had a child in his basement that was being abused and neglected.

'_I killed bad people who did bad things. Does that make me bad, too?_' he asked himself.

He did not know. He wanted to know why he was changing into this...this..._Beast!_ It was a curse of some sort. He did not want to be this. He did not want to be a murderer!

There was a knock on his door. "Come in," he said.

The door opened and Hermione stood there. Her hair was rumpled up and she looked like she just woke up. _She _did just wake up. "Hey, I thought I heard something in here," she said. "Good morning."

He smiled slightly. "'Morning."

She walked in and looked at the television. "Oh, my God! More bodies?"

"Yeah..." he said solemnly.

Hermione noticed his behavior. "Harry, are you okay?"

"Not really, after seeing this," was his response.

She made her way over to him and laid down with him in the bed. He tensed up as she got near him. He did not want to turn into the Beast and harm her. _Especially her._ She was his best friend. The one who stuck by him always. If he hurt her, their friendship would be over. If he hurt her, he would not be able to live with himself.

"Erm...I-I feel like I'm intruding so...I-I think I'm going to leave today," he told her.

"What...?" she asked him looking at him in the eye.

"I was thinking about leaving today. I'll get out of your hair and your parents' hair," he said without looking at her. It wasn't the whole truth. Its true he felt like he was imposing on the Granger family, but he wanted to leave to protect them.

From himself.

"Harry..." she paused to place her hand on his cheek and turn it towards her. "Harry, you are not intruding in on anybody. We want you here. It's okay. My parents are not going to kick you out."

Harry shuddered under her soft hand. She did not seem to notice, though. She kissed his cheek. "Harry, I want you to stay here with me. Please. Besides, you don't even have anywhere to go."

Harry tried to think of a place to go that would be safe, but had none in mind. "I need you safe," was what he blurted out.

She stared at him. "Is that what this is about? Leaving to protect me?" She looked a little mad.

"Half of it." '_More like a third'_ he thought to himself. "Look at Sirius. He died because of me-because he was near me. He was my family."

"Sirius died because of Sirius. He came to protect _you!_ God, Harry...when will you get it in your head? People, like your family, like _me_, want to protect you just as much as you want to protect us! You are a part of my family, Harry! Please, just know that! And stop blaming yourself for deaths that you did _not_ cause!" Hermione panted as she finished.

He stared at her. He had to go to Hogwarts. He had to talk to Dumbledore, or his portrait, as the old man was now dead. Harry stood up from the bed and began moving around, packing and putting stuff in his trunk. "Harry...? Please, don't do this. Don't leave."

"I have to see Dumbledore-well, his portrait. I need something answered. Something very important."

"Harry..." she sighed. "What is the _real _reason you want to leave? You've given me three reasons! You don't want to intrude! You want to keep me safe! You need to ask Dumbledore something! Which one is it?" she yelled.

"_All of them!_" he yelled back. "I feel _so _out of place here. This is the summer, Hermione. More than half of the year you are at Hogwarts. You should be spending time with your parents. Your family. I shouldn't be getting in the way!"

"You could never be in the way, Harry," she whispered softly.

He slipped his pajama pants off, revealing his blue and white plaid boxer shorts. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a clean, plain, blue t-shirt. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I really need to talk to him. I won't leave until I tell your parents 'goodbye' and thank them."

"Harry, please, tell me what's going on," she pleaded with him. "Why are you leaving me all of a sudden? What do you have to talk to Dumbledore about?"

He paused and closed his eyes, as if he were in pain. Without looking at her, he said slowly, "Hermione, I have never lied to you, you should know that. Ever. You're the only one I can be around and be myself and not have to hide and not be the Boy-Who-Lived. But right now, I can't tell you. I wish I could tell you. But I don't want to put you in danger. If anyone but Dumbledore knew-" He stopped short when he realized he had said too much. "I have trusted you for seven years, now you must trust me. Please, Hermione. Do that for me."

Hermione hesitated, but nodded slowly. "Okay, Harry, I trust you."

He smiled. "Thank you." He shut his trunk and locked it.

They heard a noise from downstairs. "I think my parents are up," Hermione said.

"Then, it's time for me to go," her best friend said sadly.

She nodded and helped him with his trunk and carried Hedwig's cage as well.

When they got to the kitchen, Charlotte and Jacob were sitting at the breakfast table drinking coffee. They looked up and were confused at Harry's trunk and belongings. "Where are you going?" asked Charlotte.

"I'm going to Hogwarts. I just wanted to say 'thank you' for letting me stay. You will probably be safer when I'm gone," he said.

"Harry..." Hermione sighed again.

"Hermione, I have to go, you know that."

"But I feel safer with you," she whispered wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. Harry held her back tightly.

"I have to go now, Hermione. Goodbye." He kissed her cheek and parted with her. He waved to her parents and walked to the fireplace and Flooed to Professor McGonagall's office. "Oh!" he heard from the desk. "Potter?"

"Hello, Professor," he said with a smile. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit...and perhaps stay here for the rest of summer?"

"Of course, Potter," she said standing up and walking over to him. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I would like to talk to you and Dumbledore, if that's okay?"

"Yes, sure." They walked over to the portrait of the dead professor in the corner. He was sitting down eating lemon drops. "Professor?" he called.

Dumbledore looked up and smiled. "Harry, m'boy! How are you?"

"Not too good, sir. I have a bit of a problem. Okay, no, that was a lie. I have a _big _problem. I-I am a Beast!"

"A Beast?"

McGonagall's reaction was a loud gasp. Dumbledore, however, looked calm.

"Yes, w-why am I like this?" he asked terrified.

"I believe it is in your blood, Harry," Dumbledore responded.

"What?"

"Yes, it obviously comes from your father's side. Although, no one has had the Beast gene for centuries. When those who have the gene become seventeen, a man, they turn."

"It kills. I've _killed _people," he said darkly.

"Yes, but it only kills to protect. The Beast is a protector. It's a protector."

"It's a _curse!_" Harry spat back. "Is there a way for me to get rid of it?"

"No, it's in your genes, Harry. There's no getting rid of it," the old wizard answered.

Harry groaned and then asked, "Well, is there a way to stop me from changing? Is there a way to control it?"

"Yes," he said which relieved Harry. "Calmness. You need to be calm. When you turned seveteen, the Beast gene unleashed its power over you, making you angry. You need to be calm to control it and stop it."

"How? Everytime I change I feel..._so _angry."

"I do not know, Harry. The Beast _has _been stopped before, but no one knew how."

Harry nodded. "It killed the Dursleys."

Dumbledore nodded. "I should have known it would. Where have you been staying?"

"At Hermione's house. But I left this morning to protect her and her parents," he replied sadly. "I did not want to hurt them. They are very special."

"Ah, does she know?"

Harry shook his head. "No, sir, I wanted to protect her, like I said. The Weaselys do not know either." Then he thought of something. "Is this the power? The power I must acquire to defeat Voldemort?"

"No, Harry, that power is much stronger, but it is connected, I'm sure. How many times did you change when you were a Miss Granger's house?"

"Once. Sir, why did it go there? I woke up naked in Hermione's backyard with no memory of what happened. Why did it go there?"

"Maybe there is still a part of you inside the Beast, fighting to get out. Maybe it recognized Miss Granger and followed its instincts and went there. The Beast kills, but it kills to protect."

"So, it wanted to _kill_ Hermione?" he asked frightened.

"No, Harry...it wanted to protect her."

* * *

Harry lay awake in the Head Boy's dormitory in Hogwarts Castle. '_The Beast wanted to protect Hermione? I wonder why. It's a good thing, though. I would not be able to stand it if it wanted to kill her._' He flipped onto his stomach to get comfortable. '_Let's see, what makes me calm? Almost nothing. I'm doomed. Doomed to be this monster. Doomed to die by the hands of Voldemort. Doomed to be unloved._'

He eventually fell asleep.

His dreams filled with frightening images.

_Dead bodies lay on the ground. Blood all around him in pools and puddles. There were arms that had been split from their users. Pieces of bloody clothing lay in the blood. Lights were flickering on and off and sparks flew from them. Tables were overturned and some were broken in half. It was a scene of destruction and murder. There was a little girl lying on top of her mother, crying and shouting, "Mummy! Wake up!"_

_Suddenly, a groan was heard and Harry rushed over to the noise. It was a mass of bushy, brown hair that looked vaguely familiar. He turned over the body and gasped as he saw his best friend lying there. Her face was covered in blood splatters. Her leg was broken. There were various cuts and bruises on her body, but she still looked like a Beauty. "You're a _monster_, Harry! You killed everyone you love. I loved you, Harry. I was in love with you. But you're a monster. A _Beast!_ I hate you!" Those were her last words as she exhaled her last breath and Harry's heart pounded._

_He turned and saw a Mirror. It was the Mirror of Erised. A beauty among the destruction. He walked over to it and saw himself in his human form. Next to him was an alive and radiant Hermione. She was smiling and in her arms held a beautiful, happy baby girl that had brown hair and emerald-green eyes. The human Harry looked at the real Harry and said, "You killed the one you loved. The only one that loved you for you. You could've had this. A family. But you chose to kill. No one will _ever _love you!"_

_Suddenly, the Mirror-Harry, Mirror-Hermione, and Mirror-baby were gone and all that was left was..._

_...the Beast!_

_"NOOOOOO! HERMIONE!"_

* * *

"NOOOOOO! HERMIONE!" Harry sat up like a bolt of lightning in horror. He was sweating bullets and was sticky. His bedsheets were wet. He stood up from the bed and peeled off his t-shirt and pajama pants. He was naked now, but felt better. He bent his head back as he tried to calm down. He could not and his heartbeat went up. He felt his transformation begin. His eyes changed and his body grew in size.

"Hermione..." came a deep, horrifying, yet distressed voice from within himself. "Hermione..."

He tried thinking of his best friend, hoping that thinking of her would maybe give him something to fight for. His transformation seemed to go away for a second, but then, completely changed into the Beast.

* * *

The Beast opened the window and roared very loudly. It heard a screeching noise behind it and saw Hedwig flapping her wings in her cage at the sight of the Beast. It ignored it and jumped down from the tower. The Beast had no fear of dying. It had no fear of jumping ten stories. It fell to the ground like a cat, on all fours. It survived the jump, but left a small crater in the ground. It roared again, hungry. Hungry for death. Hungry for murder. Hungry for justice.

It ran toward the village of Hogsmeade. It had the speed of a cheetah. Unstoppable. Unbeatable. It was invulnerable. It looked around and spied a man in an alley trying to rape an unconsious woman. Her wand lay in two pieces next to her. He had his pants down to his ankles and was stroking himself and about to enter her when...

_ROAR!_

The rapist was surprised and turned around to find the Beast right behind him. "No hurt woman," it said and grabbed the man by the collar and threw him against the wall. Hard. His bones shattered and skull cracked, killing him instantly.

The Beast walked over to the woman and covered her with her coat. Then it drew its wand and called out the distress signal. It signaled the DMLE for help if someone was hurt or if someone needed help or if someone saw someone else doing something bad. It was for emergencies. The Beast quickly ran away as it did not want to get caught.

It soon ran off to find another damsal in distress or nonlaw-abiding citizen.

* * *

The Beauty lay in her bed, unable to sleep. She had nightmares of her best friend being killed by the Beast. She just lay in bed, thinking about him and how much she loved him, even though he left her.

She thought it was a stupid, but noble thing he did. He left to protect her. But she was protected when he was around. She had never felt more scared and vulnerable in her life. She then realized that she could not live without him. She could not survive without him. He was her constant. Her other half. Her love. She would love him no matter what.

She needed to see him. Needed to get back to him. But that would mean that she would have to leave her parents unprotected.

'_Then, they will just have to come with me_' she thought. '_Tomorrow, tomorrow I will owl him._'

She fell soon asleep to the thought of her love.

TBC...

* * *

**Well, there's chapter 3. Hope you liked it.**

**The title of the chapter "Blood" referred to 2 things. One was of course all of the blood in it. But the 2nd one was Harry's blood. It was in Harry's blood and genes that led to him to being the Beast.**

**Okay, I know I did not explain the distress signal well. Its kinda like "911" if u live in the US. I know its like "999" in UK. But for everyone else, its like an emergency phone call if someone is in trouble or whatever.**

**Next chapter: Hermione meets the Beast for the first time. Weaselys come in and they are not happy.**

**Pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


	4. Protect

**Hey, thanx for the reviews!**

**Yeah, I am a loser and have all 8 seasons of smallville and in the 8th season, this guy named Davis Bloome comes into the story and he's Doomsday. In one of the episodes, called Bride, the last chapter before the credits is called "Beauty and the Beast". One of the last episodes is called "Beast" and that's when I got the idea for this story. It also came from the Hulk, but mainly it was from Smallville. Davis/Doomsday is in love with Chloe Sullivan. Doomsday is a monster that actually kills innocent people, unlike Harry. So Chloe calms him down, as she is the only one that can stop him from turning. Sorry if this spoiled Smallville for you. Haha.**

**There is a new character introduced in this chapter and yes, you guessed right. It is a child. However, she is very important to Beauty and the Beast aka Harry and Hermione.**

**Here's chapter 4!**

**Chapter Four**

**_Protect_**

Hermione wrote her letter to Harry, telling him that she missed him and wanted to see him again. She wanted to hug him and hold him tight and never let go. She was worried because there had been Beast sightings in Scotland near Hogwarts. She did not want him to get hurt.

She would lay in her bed all day and hug a pillow, worrying about Harry. Her parents got very worried and finally, her mother comfronted her. Charlotte walked into Hermione's room and saw her daughter lying on her bed, hugging a pillow and petting Crookshanks. "Hermione?"

Hermione looked at her mother. "Hey, Mum."

Charlotte sat down on the bed and smiled slightly. "Hermione, you need to get out of this room. It's not healthy to be doing this."

"I'm worried about him. Beast killings have been more frequent, now in Scotland...where Harry is."

Charlotte sighed and stroked her daughter's hair. "Harry's fine. He can take care of himself. He would not get himself killed. He's strong and would live to see you smile."

That made Hermione smile a bit. "See? You're already happier."

"What if Harry gets hurt? I'll blame myself for not stopping him."

"Now that's taking it too far, Hermione! You are not in any way responsible for him leaving! He left to protect you and me and your Dad. Whatever his reason is, it's because he loves you."

"You don't know that," Hermione whispered to her mother.

* * *

Harry sat in Dumbledore's office with a grim look on his face. He killed more people now in the past few days and he was scared of himself. "They are getting more frequent, sir. Now, I am changing every night, killing more people. I am beginning to remember everything I did." He seemed very horrified by this.

"So, you haven't found a way to control it?"

"No, sir. No, I haven't. I have tried _everything_."

"Obviously not everything. You haven't come close?"

Harry thought about this. There was that one time when he thought about Hermione and it almost went away, but he still transformed. "There was one time where I started to control it. I thought of Hermione and how beautiful she was, but...I couldn't hold it for long." He blushed at his confession.

"Ah, I should have known you were attracted to Miss Granger. Yes, Harry, she does soothe people very well. I think we should get her here. She can help you control it," he suggested.

"No!" he protested. "I don't want her getting hurt. She's too special."

"Harry, I know you want to protect her, but you have to try. She can help you."

Harry sighed and said, "I'll think about it."

Harry stood up and said, "Thank you, Professor," and left.

He walked through the hallways with his hands in his pockets. He began to get that urge again.

* * *

He woke up on the Hogwarts grounds that night, naked once again. It was raining and he was already soaked to the bone. He had no idea who he killed this time. He had clips and visuals, but nothing that he really remembered. He stood up clumsily and stumbled toward the castle. He was weak, just like the last few times. He had tried to think about Hermione when he began to change, but it did not work. He needed her. He craved for her. He lived for her. But he did not want to give in. He fell to the ground and rolled onto his back in exhaustion. '_Hermione...I need you. I can't go on. Please._' He got onto his knees and panted and then shouted to the heavens. "HERMIONE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as a loud clap of thunder rolled and a flash of lightning lit up the sky. Then, the Beast's voice came out of his throat with a loud roar.

Miles away, Hermione Jane Granger woke up to someone yelling her name. She checked the clock. It was two thirty-four in the morning. '_Maybe it was just a dream_' she thought, but questioned herself. '_Did that sound like Harry? Was that Harry? He could be in trouble._' She shook her head. '_I'll go see him tomorrow._' She rolled back over and fell back to sleep. A book laid on her bed, several feet away from her. If anyone else was in the room, they would see that Ms. Hermione Granger's latest book was _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_.

Harry stood up and slipped in the mud, falling back on all fours, crying. He was all alone. By himself. Deserted. Abandoned. He felt like when the Dursleys had left him to starve for four days as they went on a small vacation and forgot about him. He had been locked in his cupboard weak, starving, and thirsty. He had been only five years old. He felt unloved. Unheard. Vulnerable. He did not like what the Beast did to him. Made him feel weak and exhausted.

He cried out his best friend's name three more times. He thought...that if he called for her enough, she would come to him. But she did not. Instead, McGonagall found him two hours later, passed out. She levitated him in and laid him on his bed in the Head Boy's dormitory. She made him more suitable by putting pajama pants on him and putting a Drying spell on him.

She left him to rest more and then went write a letter to an old Wizarding family.

* * *

Harry woke up feeling amazing. He had a theory. When the Beast calmed down enough, Harry became human again and passed out. When he awoke after awhile, he was weak and scared and exhausted and wanted to die. When fell back asleep and woke up, he felt like a new man. Like he could conquer the world. A hero.

But he was no hero. He killed people. He couldn't control it.

He sat up in the bed and looked around. Wasn't he outside in the rain last night? How did he get here?

He smelled horrible, though, like sweat and grime, like all of the other times. So, he got out of bed and took a shower and changed into clean clothes.

He was bored, like always, so he just walked the halls and corridors of his school. He found a hole in the wall near the Entrance Hall where he had blasted through the afternoon before. He was destroying the world, bit by bit.

"Mr. Potter..." he heard behind him. He turned around and smiled slightly at his Head of House.

"Hello, Professor," he responded looking back at the hole.

"Admiring your handiwork?"

"I can't believe I did this. It's nothing compared to what I've done. But this is something I love. It's a part of what I love. I damaged my home," he said sadly.

"Don't blame yourself, Harry," she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't control it. I have invited the Weaselys here for a while to help you calm down."

Harry's head whipped to look at her. His smile faded, showing a concerned and worried frown. "No, I'll hurt them, too."

"Harry, you have to let them try. If you won't let Hermione, then the Weaselys."

"No, I'd rather be caged than hurt _any _of them," he said strongly. Then he had an idea. "That's it-cage me! Put me in a cage! With the strongest spells you know. If you won't kill me, then contain me."

"Absolutely not, Mr. Potter," she refused. "You may not want it this way, but it's what's going to happen."

"I'm turning more frequent now. I'm afraid it's becoming permanent and I will no longer be human and be the Beast until I die. You need to cage me before I hurt anyone else!" he told her.

"No, Mr. Potter, I will not. It's for your own good. Caging the Beast will not solve the problem. Miss Granger will. Or the Weaselys." She walked away without another word.

The Beast inside the seventeen year old roared, shaking the halls of Hogwarts.

It was fighting to come out. This was the second transformation he had in less than a day. He was scared he _was _turning into the Beast permanently. No longer human.

His clothes ripped off of him and he roared loudly, angry. His body fully changed into the Beast.

* * *

The Beast hid out in the Forbidden Forest, letting out its anger on the trees and acromatulas. It stayed there until nightfall. This was the longest the Beast had ever been the Beast. It was really angry. It wanted to kill. Not just acromatulas. It wanted to smell the worst part of human flesh. It wanted to hear the horrible screams of the ones who made others scream. It wanted to kill. It wanted to protect.

It roared again and began to run. It ran. It ran out of the Forest, knocking down trees that stood in its path.

* * *

Hermione looked around as she heard a terrifying roar. She was up in the Head Girl's dormitory. She had been told that Harry was out for a walk and would be coming back soon, so she was waiting for him. She walked to the window and looked outside. What she saw shocked her. It was a monstrous creature. It had thick, black, rocky skin and blood-red eyes. It was about seven feet tall and had spikes on its face. She realized she was looking at the Beast.

"Harry..." was the first thing that came out of her mouth. "Harry's out there! It could hurt him!" She turned and ran out of the room, down the stairs, out the common room, and through the halls of Hogwarts. Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasely met up with her. "Harry's out there!"

"What?" Ron asked confused.

"Harry's out walking! He could be hurt from that thing!" she ran to the Entrance Hall. The Weaselys hot on her heels, trying to stop her from her suicide mission. Right when she got to the big, oak doors, Ron had grabbed her around the waist. "NO! HARRY! GET OFF OF ME, RON! LET ME GO!"

"It'll kill you!" he yelled back.

"I don't care! I have to find Harry!"

Ginny began to hyperventilate. Her mother had to slap her across the face to get her to breathe right. "Mum, what if Harry's going to get hurt?"

"We won't worry about that right now, okay?" Mrs. Weasely said in that sickly sweet voice.

Hermione got really angry and elbowed Ron in the gut. Hard. Ron let her go to hold his stomach in pain. Hermione ran out of the doors, narrowly missing a Stun curse shot by Mrs. Weasely. Then, she did something that had not been done since before Dumbledore died. She Apparated away from Hogwarts.

She ended up in Hogsmeade. She figured he might be here. "Harry!" she called. "Harry!" Tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks. "HARRY!"

"Help me!" she heard from a little ways down the street and in an alley. It sounded like a little girl's voice. Curious, she took out her wand and ran over to answer the call. She gasped as she saw a little girl being choked to death by a man in black. The girl looked to be about five years old. She had brown hair and hazel eyes that were beginning to lose their life. Hermione realized she didn't have much time to save the little girl. "_Flipendo!_" she yelled and the man flew off of her. Hermione ran to the little girl and knelt down next to her. "Hey, shh, it's okay. It's okay. You're fine." The little girl wrapped her arms around Hermione's neck, who held her back.

She didn't hear the man get up and shout, "_Crucio!_" Hermione heard it at the last minute. She shielded the little girl with her body and took the curse. She screamed in pain as the Torture Curse took its affect on her. "No!" the little girl cried.

"_Crucio!_" he shouted again.

Hermione let out a blood-curdling scream. She wanted it to end. She wanted to be dead and not have to feel this torture. Before he could put her under the Curse again, they heard a roar. The three of them all looked to the beginning of the alley. The Beast stood there...and it was angry. He roared again and the little girl covered her ears and whimpered. Hermione stood up shakily and the little girl followed. Hermione took the less of the two evils and put the little girl behind her, towards the assaultant, who grabbed her as bait to get away.

The little girl screamed as she was lifted into the air. "Here, take her! Not me!" He levitated the girl and hurled her to the Beast, who caught her. Hermione froze and wanted to lift her wand and shoot a spell, but she was frozen in her tracks. The little girl screamed as she looked into the red eyes of the Beast. The Beast looked at her and set her down gently. Then, it ran toward the assaultant and began to do what it came to do.

Hermione rushed to the little girl and put her face into her stomach, shielding her from the horrors of what was happening. Covering her eyes from seeing flesh being peeled from bone, limbs being ripped from body, and blood being splattered everywhere. The Beast left it so that the man was almost unrecognizable.

When it was done, the Beast looked roared loudly to the sky.

Hermione panted as it looked at her. However, she did not see a thirst for blood or murder in its face. She saw a power. The Beast walked toward them and stopped several feet in front of them.

The little girl turned from Hermione's stomach to the Beast. When she saw that it was not going to hurt her, she ran to it and hugged it as best she could. "You...saved...us, sir. Thank you."

The Beast froze, scared. It just tapped her on the back once. Then, it looked at Hermione and walked toward her. She did not back away. She did not cower. She was not afraid. She gasped as the Beast lightly brushed her cheek with its rocky finger. The Beast caressed its Beauty's cheek.

"Safe now," was all it said before it left.

Hermione stood frozen still after it was gone. Why did it not attack her or the little girl? Why did it save her? For a week now, she was told it was a Beast! A monster! Could not be stopped or controlled by anything. But it was gentle, at least to damsels in distress. It was a hero!

* * *

It turned out that the little girl's parents were killed by man who tried to kill her. He had wanted money, but she had screamed, so he tried to kill her as well. Her name was Annabella Gryphon. She was taken to Hogwarts as refugee. She was nestled in Hermione's arms with her face buried in her neck as the older girl walked back to Hogwarts. Annabella had fallen asleep a few minutes ago and Hermione figured she would have a hard time waking her up. "Hermione!" came Mrs. Weasely's loud and shrill voice running up to her. "Hermione!"

"Shh!" Hermione hissed at her as Annabella started to stir. "She's sleeping!"

"Oh, the poor dear..." Mrs. Weasely said. "Here, give her to me." She reached out for the little girl, but Hermione recoiled, holding her tighter against her chest. "No, it's okay. I think I'll take care of her. She's fine. She doesn't trust anyone but me."

Hermione continued to walk past her and past Ginny and past Ron. "Did you find Harry?" the female redhead asked.

The brunette turned around. "No, but we met up with the Beast."

"The Beast?" Ron asked. "Are you okay? And who is she?"

"The Beast is not a murderer. He's killed people, but only the ones with records. The ones who are bad and should be in prison. The Beast saved us tonight. This is Annabella Gryphon. She's orphaned. The Beast and I saved her," she told him before turning and walking away.

"S-saved you? The Beast is a _monster!_ It could have hurt you!" he countered as she walked away.

She turned back around, "It could have...but it didn't."

* * *

"Mama...?" Annabella asked as Hermione laid her in her bed and covered her with the bedclothes. The five year old opened her eyes and looked up at Hermione. "Mama...is that you? I'm afraid."

Hermione had to smile, but still, a soft, lone tear escaped her eye. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not your Mama." She hated breaking the little girl's heart, but she would find out soon enough that Hermione was not her Mama and that she was dead. "I'm Hermione, remember? I saved you."

Annabella nodded and turned on her side and beginning to cry. Hermione laid in the bed with her. "Shh, it's okay. You're not alone. I'm here. I'll take care of you, if you'd like."

She nodded slowly. Hermione looked around and found what she was looking for. "Here." She gave her a teddy bear. "This is mine, but I don't mind letting you borrow it." It was a ratty, old, brown teddy bear with one eye left and some strings hanging down from it. Still, Annabella smiled a bit at it. "What's his name?"

"Henry."

"Henry..." she repeated and yawned.

"Here, why don't you get some sleep? You had a long day," Hermione suggested tucking her in.

"Are you going to leave me?" Annabella asked with scared, widened eyes.

"No, of course not. I promise, not until you fall asleep. Okay?"

She nodded and closed her eyes with Henry under her arm. Crookshanks leapt up onto the bed and curled up next to Annabella, who opened her eyes to see what it was. "This is Crookshanks. Don't worry, he's nice. Go to sleep."

Annabella stroked the cat's fur for a bit before she fell asleep. Hermione just sat against the headboard, running her hands through the little girl's hair and hummed a sweet tune. She could not imagine what this little girl was going through. She lost her parents and was almost choked to death. Then, she saw a terrifying Beast that saved her.

Suddenly, Hermione heard a noise coming from the Head Common Room. She got curious and left the bed, making sure Annabella was asleep. She walked outside her room and cautiously crept down the stairs to see what it was. She brandished her wand, ready to defend herself and her new charge. She walked into the Common Room, but saw nothing. Confused she turned around to go back upstairs, but then heard the door to the Head Boy's dorm open.

There stood Harry in a simple pair of pajama pants, looking tired and worn out. "Harry!" She rushed over to him and threw her arms around his neck.

"Hermione!" he hugged her back tightly. "What are you doing here?"

She let him go and said, "I was worried about you. You just left unexpectedly. I just wanted to know if you were okay. And I wanted to stay with you. I didn't want you to leave."

He nodded and sighed.

"I saw the Beast."

Harry acted like he was surprised. "What? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think everyone was just misunderstood about him. He sav-"

He cut her off. "'It'. It's not a 'he'. It's an 'it'," he corrected her slightly angrily.

"Fine. _It _saved me," Hermione said.

Harry looked at her pretending to be intrigued and confused. "It did? How?"

She proceeded to tell her best friend the Beast's heroic tale of how he had saved her and Annabella.

"So, you are taking care of her?" he asked.

"Yes, she's upstairs asleep. She told the Beast 'thank you' for saving her," she smiled. "Harry, the Beast is this ugly, gruesome, scary monster on the outside. But on the inside..." She shook her head disbelievingly. "It's very beautiful."

"It is a monster," he spat back.

"No, it's not, Harry," she protested. "_It saved my life!_ It didn't have to, but it did."

He didn't want to argue with her. He would lose anyway, so he just let it go and said, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Hermione."

"Goodnight, Harry," was her reply and she kissed him on the forehead. Harry smiled and went back up the stairs to sleep.

* * *

The next night, the Beast appeared again. Hermione had been worried about Harry as he did not show up for dinner. She tried to go outside to look for him, but the Weaselys followed her again. "Hermione, come on inside. Don't worry about Harry. He can take care of himself," Ron complained grabbing her hand and trying to pull her back inside.

"No, Ron! Let me go!"

"Don't worry about him!"

"Let go of me, Ron!"

Suddenly, they jumped at a monstrous roar. They looked at the source of the noise, shaking. Hermione smiled as she saw her two-time rescuer. The Beast.

"No touch Hermy. Let go," it said.

Ron immediately let go and he and his sister and his mother stared in horror at the Beast. It decided to scare them off to be alone with its Beauty. So it roared again, right in Ron's face, who almost had a heart attack. The three Weaselys ran back inside the castle, leaving the Beauty with the Beast. Hermione tried not to laugh, but failed. She turned to the Beast amused. "I wondered when I would see you again."

The Beast just stood there looking at her. "Are you okay?" she asked it.

"Beast fine," it responded. "Hermione safe."

She was confused. She only met this Beast last night and never told it her name. "How do you know my name?"

The Beast looked as if it was nervous. "Beast go now." It ran away as fast as it could to a secluded spot to transform back into its human form.

The Beast realized one thing:

Hermione, its Beauty, could calm it down.

TBC...

* * *

**Well, there's chapter 4.**

**Yes, I know if you read my other stories, you are probably sick of me putting children in my stories. But Annabella is very important. She is one of the few people who think that Beast is a good creature. I struggled with trying to find a name for her. I wanted it to be a combination of "beauty" and "beast". I knew "Bella" is I think, Italian, for beautiful. So I looked on to find a name that was a beast and found interestingly enough, Gryphon. Realizing that I could in NO way put these two names together, I chose for Gryphon to be her last name and stuck an "Anna" in front of "Bella" as I did not want to confuse myself with Bella Swan. Haha.**

**Annabella Gryphon is an important character. She is the reason the Beauty and the Beast meet. This, however, does NOT mean they are going to adopt her. I have no idea if I'm going to do that.**

**I tried looking for a name that meant "truth", but all of the names were like, unpronouncable, so I decided to go with a combo of "beauty" and "beast". Because Annabella does represent truth. You'll see.**

**Oh, also, I named Hermione's teddy bear actually after Harry. "Harry" is a nickname for "Henry". I found that out thru Prince Harry of England, haha. That's his real name. Well, teddy bears protect little children from monsters and the dark. I'm sure you can make the connection between Henry and Harry.**

**Next chapter: Annabella bonds with Harry.**

**Anyway, pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


	5. Annabella

**Hey, thanx for the reviews!**

**Well, finals is coming up! I should be studying, but that's not my middle name! Haha.**

**Annabella is more in this chapter. Obviously, if you've seen the title of this chapter. Haha.**

**You know what I noticed? I tell ya'll random stuff in every chapter and no one really comments on that. I'm not bitching or anything, but it would be cool to see someone comment on something I said, you know?**

**My four year old nephew tried to drown my chihuahua. He's fine, but everytime he sees my nephew he shakes. Poor little thing. My nephew, I think, might be possessed. Haha.**

**Also, in this story, like my others, Hermione is younger than Harry. It was just the way I saw it when I first started reading the books.**

**Here's chapter 5!**

**Chapter Five**

**_Annabella_**

Annabella watched Harry James Potter closely over the next few days. There was something about him that striked her fancy. And no, she did not have a crush on him, even though she thought he was a little good-looking. There was just something about him that made her curious about him. He would not really do anything. He would just walk around and mope in sorrow. Sometimes, he would not even be around. They would not see him for some time and then, they would find him somewhere naked and unconscious. No one knew what was going on with the seventeen-year-old.

Annabella could see that Harry was hurting Hermione without even knowing it. He would not talk to anyone, especially her. He would not look at her. He would reject her. Her help. Her love. It made her fall apart. Annabella would watch her lay in her bed and attempt to not cry for ten minutes and then break down and sob for hours. It tore at Annabella to see her new guardian like this. To see her breaking down at the one she loved.

Yes, Annabella could see the love the two had for each other. But they were too dumb and oblivious to see it. She wished they would just open their eyes and proclaim their love for each other.

She had heard shouting one night after Hermione tucked her into bed. She crawled out of bed, grabbed Henry, and crept down the stairs to see what was the matter. She gently and silently opened the door. Harry and Hermione were having a spat.

"-don't you trust me?" Hermione yelled.

"You know I do, Hermione," he said softly. "I've told you this already. I can't tell you why I wind up in random places naked with no memory of what happened. I can't tell you. I can't tell Ron. Ginny. Mrs. Weasely. None of you. I don't want you to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Harry..." She turned his face so that he could look at her and she could look at him. "...you're breaking my heart." She sobbed.

He closed his eyes, trying not to cry. "It's better for your heart to be broken than for your heart to stop beating. Hermione, my problem could cause people to kill and torture for the truth. Information. They would not rest until they would get what they wanted. They would use you to get to me. Just please, let me deal with it."

Hermione sighed exasperated. "Harry, you know that you are worth more than one stopped heart. I would protect your secret, just like you protect me. I would and will protect you," was her last response before she turned on her heel and went upstairs to bed.

Annabella had flattened herself against the wall so that Hermione could not see her. When Hermione was in her room, she looked out the door and looked at Harry. He was crying. His shoulders shook from the sobs. "I'm so sorry, 'Mione." He wiped his tears and stood straight.

Annabella Gryphon had a secret, special power. She was a Seer of some sort. She saw things people did not. She could see the real hurt Harry felt. The guilt. The tragedy. The love. The loss. The Beast.

Yes, she knew.

Annabella Gryphon knew Harry Potter was the Beast with just one look.

* * *

Annabella stumbled upon a sobbing Hermione on the steps of the Grand Staircase. She knew it was Harry. She was tired of seeing her new guardian crying over Harry. So, she decided to confront him about it.

She found him on the steps of the covered bridge that connected Hogwarts to her grounds. He was leaning on the stony archway. She sat down next to him. Her hands cupped her face and she just looked at him. He looked back at her with a confused face. Then went back to staring at nothing. When she didn't move, he looked back at her. "Can I help you?"

She took her face out of her hands and stared straight ahead at the Stone Circle. "I know what you are."

His head shot toward her in shock. "What?"

"I know you are the Beast. I know it was you who saved Hermione and I."

"H-how?"

"I have a strange gift. I can see things that others can't. I can see that you are the Beast."

He began to panic and look around wildly.

"It's okay. I haven't told anyone and I will never tell. You can trust me."

He sighed, but was still. "Pretty gruesome, huh?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I admit, you did scare me when I first saw you, but after you saved me, I saw _you_. A human."

"The Beast is_ not_ human. It's a thing. A monster," he spat back.

"No, its not. If it was a monster, it would have let me die or finished the job the other man didn't. How did you come to be this?" she asked him curiously.

"I became the Beast on my seventeenth birthday. I began to transform and I killed my relatives. I woke up to find myself in Hermione's backyard. I stayed there for a day and came here for answers. It turns out that it's in my genes. My father's side of the family could transform, but no one had for a century. I knew-I _knew_ there wasthis darkness just...fighting to get out," he told the little girl.

Annabella processed his words in her head and put a comforting hand on his arm. "We all have a darkness in us, Harry. There's nothing wrong with it. You just have to learn to control it."

Harry stared at her strangely. "You are amazing at talking to. You made me feel better. Thank you."

She nodded and smiled. "But you know you are hurting Hermione, don't you?"

His expression changed from happy to dark again. He nodded. "I don't want her to find out. If she knew...people would get to her and try to hurt her for information about me. How to destroy me."

"Well, you should not push her away. You're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting her. She's just trying to help you, you know. Always has. Always will. Just apologize to her. Tell her that you _do _care about her. Give her some flowers or candy. You don't have to tell her your secret, but at least tell her that you care about her," the little girl advised with a smile.

Harry asked her, "How old are you?"

"I'm six."

He widened his eyes. "How could a six-year-old like you know this much?"

She smiled again. "My Mum loved Muggles, so she took on a Muggle job as a therapist. She used to tell me to help people as much as I could when I got older. Help people tame their Beasts and find their Beauty in them. I think your Beauty is Hermione."

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Because you always seem much calmer around her. The Beast is ugly on the outside, but maybe, there's a part of you inside that lets it save people and calm down. But it's the thought of Hermione that makes you do it, isn't it? _She_ calms you down. _She _tames the Beast inside you, doesn't she? She's what makes you beautiful, because she is beautiful. Not just looks, but she's beautiful because she is pure and smart and caring and kind and loving."

Harry nodded and realized he needed to go and talk to her. "Thanks, Annabella. I think I'll go talk to her now. Come on." He stood up, followed by the little girl and they walked back to the castle. Annabella slipped her tiny in his giant one. He looked down at her and smiled. She gave him one back.

* * *

"Professor, have you seen Harry?" Hermione asked her Headmistress as she saw her in the Great Hall.

"Oh, no, dear, I haven't. I'm sorry," the old witch replied sadly seeing Hermione crestfallen face.

"That's okay. Um, so, is Hogwarts opening up again next month?" she asked.

McGonagall looked sad again and replied, "No, dear, it's not. Many parents do not want to send their children back to Hogwarts as it had been breached last term. I do not blame them. It seems that we are running out of safe places these days."

"Hogwarts is safe enough. It seems that the Beast is around us, killing every bad person that plans to harm us. It will protect us from Voldemort." She smiled to the elder witch, who nodded back.

"Excuse me, I have to speak with Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall said and left the young witch in the Great Hall.

Hermione decided to go looking for Annabella. She needed a friendly face to look at. Harry, Ron, Ginny, or Mrs. Weasely were not doing any good. Ron was trying to get her to kiss him and hook up with him. Ginny was getting on her nerves asking her where Harry was twenty-four/seven. Mrs. Weasely just kept encouraging her children. Annabella made her smile. She made her feel better. She wondered why she was not grieving for her mother. She had just died. Shouldn't she be sad?

She spotted Annabella and Harry walking through the big, oak doors together. The six-year-old's hand in Harry's. He chuckled as he walked in with her hand in his. Hermione folded her arms in front of her chest, protecting herself. Not letting herself grow weak at the sight of his beautiful, green eyes.

"So," she said coldly. "who is it today, Harry? Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?"

He looked down ashamed and his eyes fell upon Annabella, who nodded encouragingly. "Go ahead, tell her what we talked about." She slipped her hand out of Harry's and went up the Grand Staircase, only to stop once she got around the corner to listen.

"Tell me what, Harry?" she asked still holding her ground.

"That...I care about you. That I am _real _sorry that I have been pushing you away lately. I really do care about you. I do. I trust you. I really do." He turned away from her and faced the stone wall, unable to look at her. Unable to look at her and talk to her. "But this secret that I have-i-it could put you in a lot of danger...and I do not wish that upon you."

Hermione walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, you don't get it, do you?" She was right behind him. Her next words made him sick. She mouth was right next to his ear. "I would die for you."

That made him a little mad. He turned around, grabbed her, and pushed her up against the wall. He got in her face and pinned her down against the wall. She was scared at first, but then her face softened when she realized that he would never hurt her. "Why? Why would you die for someone like me? Why would you die for a lost cause like me? I'm already dead, Hermione. I'm dying inside. My parents are dead, Sirius is gone. Dumbledore. The Weaselys are doing _nothing_. I have a madman after me. Why would you want to die for me? Why would you save _my _life? Why would you keep my heart beating?"

She looked at his chest. At his heart. It was there. Deep in his chest. Beating rapidly. "Because its beautiful. Your heart. It beats to the rhythm of the greatest song in the world. It _is _the greatest song in the world. The greatest sound."

Harry was not affected at all. "My. Heart. Is. Not. _Beautiful_." He felt the Beast coming to him again. His Mr. Hyde. Why was this affecting him like this? Hermione should soothe him, not anger him.

"You don't know _anything_ about your heart," she whispered softly.

Harry roared loudly, his eyes changing. He closed them, so that she could not see that they had went from emerald to blood-red. He turned away from her and fell to the ground. Suddenly Ron came running in. "Potter! You stay away from Hermione!" He shot a Stunning Spell at him. However, it did not affect him. Hermione grabbed onto her wand and stunned him. The redhead fell to a heap at her feet. She kicked him out of the way and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry had felt the black skin of the Beast beginning to form on his face. As soon as Hermione touched him on his shoulder, he felt himself calm down and for the first time since he began to transform, he controlled it and held it back. He looked at his hands and felt his face in shock. Then, he turned to look at Hermione and saw Ron on the ground. He looked back at his best friend and said,

"You saved me."

However, he was not talking about saving him from Ron.

She tamed the Beast.

* * *

Harry and Hermione stayed as far away from the Weaselys as they possibly could. Annabella joined them very often, secretly calling herself "The Lost Potter-Granger". She felt like family around the two of them. She wished they would adopt her. However, Hermione was not yet sixteen and could not adopt anyone yet. She kept trying to get them together, but they were just too thick.

She kept Harry's secret, like she said she would. She just wanted Harry to tell Hermione. She wanted her to know to so that she could help him. Hermione was his Beauty, not her. She couldn't help him as well as she could. She could calm him.

September came and Hermione turned seventeen. They had a big bash in the Great Hall. Hermione's parents came to celebrate. They fell immediately in love with Annabella and she fell in love with them.

"So, Hermione is taking care of you now, Annabella?" Charlotte Granger asked.

Annabella nodded and added, "Harry, too. They are taking great care of me."

Hermione loved that her parents approved of her. She was having a great time at her birthday party, talking to her old classmates, like Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Lavender Brown, Parvati and Padma Patil, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan. They were all devastated that Hogwarts was going to close.

Hermione searched forever for her best friend. Harry was no where to be found. Ron was ticked off. He wanted Hermione to pay attention to him. "I can't dance with you, Ron. Not until I find Harry." She began walking out of the Great Hall, on a mission to find her best friend.

Ron, however, grabbed her arm and stopped her. "When will you stop worrying about him? Huh? You're always with him. Always talking about him. Always thinking about him. When will you have time for me? He can take care of himself!"

She glared at him. "Let me go, Ron," she said darkly.

"Stop worrying about him," he seethed.

"If I don't worry about him, then no one will and he will get killed. Harry needs someone to worry about him. He needs someone to care for him. To care _about_ him. He's my best friend...and you're just pathetic," she spat back at him. She tried to turn away from him again, but he kept his firm grip on her arm. But it got tighter. She yelped. "Ron! Let me go!"

"You need to stay away from Potter!" he yelled in her face.

"Harry!" she called out.

There was a pounding on the giant, oak doors and they opened to reveal...the Beast. It roared and the music stopped. Several people screamed. McGonagall, Annabella and Hermione were the only ones calm. The Beast was hit with several spells. All of which took no effect on it. It stomped over to Ron and Hermione. Ron cowered away from it, taking Hermione with him. "Come, Hermione, it could hurt you!"

"Go away, Ron!" she tried to get him to let go.

Finally the Beast grabbed Ron's arm from Hermione and pushed him back. He hit the wall with a thud. He blacked out and the Beast roared again. It looked at Hermione and gathered her in its arms, honeymoon-style. Annabella watched a the Beast ran away with its Beauty. The Beast ran out of the Great Hall and toward the Forbidden Forest. Its speed was phenomenal, so they were there in no time.

"There" was a small clearing with one, lone stump. The Beast set her on the stump. "Why did you bring me here? How did you here my call?"

"Beast...watches...over...Beauty," it said slowly.

"'Beauty', huh? That's what I am now?" she asked jokingly. "So...what are you? Not to be rude."

"Beast. I am Beast," it replied.

"Why did you save me,...Beast?"

"Hermione...beautiful." It once again caressed her face with its finger.

Soon, it began to get that feeling. The feeling of being calm and shut down. It soon began to shrink and it fell to its knees, now a human.

* * *

Hermione gasped as she saw the Beast transforming into a human. "_Harry...?_" She caught him before he fell to the ground completely. "Oh, my God, Harry!" She lowered his sweating, naked body to the ground with ease. "Its okay! You're fine." She held his upper body in her lap, stroking his sweaty, black hair, trying not to look...down there.

"You're the Beast, Harry. I don't know why I never thought of _you _being the Beast," she said.

"I never wanted you to know. But lately, that part of me is becoming more dominant. It's taking over me. I-I didn't want it to hurt you," he said to her.

She kissed him on the forehead. "You could never hurt me. All that the Beast has done so far is save me."

"It hurt Ron," he said. "I'm beginning to remember things now. That could've been you it hurt."

"I know, but it wasn't."

"I need your help, Hermione," he said. He could not believe he was asking her this. She would never go for it.

"Sure, anything, Harry."

"I need...I need you to help me die."

TBC...

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun!**

**Okay, so it is beginning to be more like Smallville now. Hermione knows about Harry being the Beast and Harry asks her to help him kill himself.**

**And little Annabella is a self-proclaimed therapist.**

**Next chapter: Will Hermione help Harry kill himself?**

**Update (05-23-10): I added Luna to the party. Thanks to Jackdaw King Azrael for pointing her out.**

**Pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


	6. Caged

**Thanx for the reviews!**

**DaveNew: Actually I own 5. Haha. They cute tho. Yap a lot, but cute and can't jump on beds. Haha. But we had a black lab, but he had to be put to sleep. R.I.P. Fred. Oh, and, when you can drive right under an 18-wheeler, say that is really dirty, and drive back out, that is just too damn small. Haha. Jeff Dunham is my 2nd-favorite comedian, right behind Wanda Sykes. He's so funny. I love Walter and Achmed. But his stand-up is the best. "We named him Bill because as a puppy, he was humping EVERYTHING." Haha. Love Jeff-fa-fa. And my dog did not drown, it was an attempt murder. If he was human, he would be autistic. There was a lot of drama and incest going on in his family when he was born. He's had a hard life, so I love him. Haha. Btw, I know there's a period after Dave, but when I would save it, it wouldn't show ur name, so I just left it like that. Oh, and my other nephew (not the attempted murderer) is 6 months old and he says "mama". Dead serious. Witnessed it. So, Annabella CAN be advanced for her age.**

**Jackdaw King Azrael: Yea, Luna's my 2nd fav female character behind Hermione. I added her in the last chapter to the party, but she doesn't really do anything. Ima try to make her more in this one.**

**cah11: He's four and a terror. Haha. He's cute and adorable, but sometimes, the devil releases himself on him and he is unstoppable. He's like the spawn of the devil, except I love my sister and my brother-in-law, so they not the devil. Haha.**

**So, I recently bought Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, you know, the one with Hayden Christensen (at his HOTTEST!) and it gave me an idea for this chapter. It was between Padme and Anakin. You'll see, if you've seen the movie.**

**Disclaimer: I keep forgetting this! Haha. If I owned Harry Potter, there would be a VERY different epilogue in the back of that book. It belongs to JKR. Also, Doomsday belongs to DC Comics. Davis Bloome/Smallville belongs to the CW. And the Hulk belongs to Marvel Comics. I own nothing but the plot.**

**Here's chapter six!**

**Chapter Six**

_**Caged**_

_"I need your help, Hermione," he said. He could not believe he was asking her this. She would never go for it._

_"Sure, anything, Harry."_

_"I need...I need you to help me die."_

Hermione stared at him in horror, trying to grasp just exactly what he said. "Wh-what? Did you just ask me to help you _die_?" She shook her head vigorously. "N-no! Absolutely not, Harry! I will _not_ kill you!" Harry rose up from her lap and stood. She stood up with him.

"Hermione, the Beast is becoming uncontrollable now! Yes, it saves people, but what if it decides it doesn't want to save people anymore? What if all it wants to do is kill? Kill anything and everything! Destroy! I'm almost invulnerable! I can't be taken down, Hermione! I am the world's greatest and deadliest predator! Even more powerful than a vampire. I could rip it to shreds. I am the world's ultimate destroyer," he told her.

"If you're invulnerable, Harry, then how do you suppose you want to kill yourself?" she challenged.

That stumped him. He had never thought about how he would do it. "The Beast has no weakness. Neither do I. Then, there is no way for me to die." He paused and continued, "But everything _has a weakness_. Nothing is invulnerable. Everything can be taken down by _something._ Please, Hermione, you have to help me end this." He walked toward her, strongly. "Please, Hermione...help me."

"No, Harry. No. You're my best friend. As you said so yourself, I care about you too much to let you die."

"If you care about me, then help me," he seethed. "I'm afraid of what it might do to me. If you won't help me die, then cage me. Put me in an indestructible cage and keep me there."

"Harry, you _can_ get through this. We don't have to kill you or cage you. We can find a way around this. Besides, you are forgetting what you are supposed to do. _You _are to kill Voldemort. You destroy him and you save _billions_, Harry," she said. "I am not saying that the Beast can be used as a weapon, but you can save people, Harry. Isn't that what you have always wanted to do?"

"I've always wanted a family," he spat back in her face. "I've been deprived of a family for sixteen years! My parents and Sirius were all killed! My relatives hated me for who I was! The Weaselys are just liars! I've dealt with Voldemort's shit for all these years! He deprived me of a family!"

"And what about me?" she asked softly. Their mouths mere inches apart. "Am I not your family?"

"No, you are not my family," he said which made her frown and turn away from him. "You are my life," he said to stop her from walking away from him. "You. Are. My. Life. You are everything I live by. The reason I live. The reason I breathe. You're the last major, good thing in my life. I have some friends, like Neville and Luna and the rest, but you..." He shook his head. "You are the reason I get up every day."

Hermione turned around and looked at him. "Then, why don't you? Live. Live for me. I can help you _live_. Not die. _Live_. I can help you, Harry." She kissed his cheek and his forehead tenderly.

Harry gave into that. He closed his eyes and nodded. "Okay. Fine. I'll kill Voldemort, but I choose what I want to do after."

Hermione hesitated, but nodded, and then gathered her best friend in her arms in a fierce hug. "Okay, but please, Harry, choose the right choice. I would be devastated if you took your own life. I wouldn't go on."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He just let a lone tear roll down his cheek. "Happy Birthday, Hermione."

"Where have you two been?" Annabella asked when they got back. "You missed the cake."

Harry was fully dressed in the same clothes he had on. Hermione mended them for him, making him look presentable. Everyone rushed to Hermione, asking her if she was okay and if the Beast harmed her in any way. She reassured them that she was fine and that the Beast did not lay a finger on her.

Ron was pampering her up. He would not leave her alone or stop asking questions, so Harry pushed him away from her and they walked off with Annabella in their wake.

* * *

A few nights and a few transformations later, after they put Annabella down to sleep, they went to their respected rooms and fell asleep themselves.

Harry, once again, did not have good dreams. He tried to fight them off and out of his mind, trying to place soothing and calming images in their place. However, they did not ward them off. They only plagued his mind even more, because he thought of his friends. When he thought of his friends in a nightmare, they were harmed. He watched as he hurt and harmed his close friends. Blood was everywhere. He watched as he eventually got to Hermione and eventually murdered her.

He sat up like a bolt in bed and screamed. He was sweating and panting like a dog. He stood up and ran out of his room to the Common Room. He walked to the balcony and opened the French doors. The hot, yet cool, summer wind hit his sweaty, bare chest and blew through his hair. He closed his eyes as he felt the pain rushing to him. The pain of loss. The nightmare did not feel like a nightmare at all. It felt too real.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he did not hear a noise behind him until it spoke. "Harry..."

He spun around, startled. He sighed with relief seeing Hermione standing there. She was in a pair of pink and lime-green striped, petite girls' boxer shorts and a plain, grey girls' t-shirt that hugged her torso perfectly. Her legs looked amazing and long and smooth. Harry just wanted to rub his hands down them. He mentally shook his head of these thoughts and turned back around toward the Hogwarts grounds, closing his eyes again. He could not look at her. If he did, he would see her covered in blood and pale. Dying.

Harry felt her stand slightly behind him. He knew she would not let this go.

"Harry..." She placed a soothing hand on his bare shoulder. Harry tensed, but she did not seem to notice. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

He didn't answer; maybe she would just leave him alone if he kept silent.

"I heard you scream."

"I'm sorry I woke you," he apologized to her, deciding to speak.

"It's okay, really," she paused before continuing. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He inhaled deeply and let it out heavily. "I'm not sure it was a nightmare."

"What did you mean?" He could hear the confusion in her voice.

"It was more like when I had that vision of Mr. Weasely in Fifth Year, when _I_ attacked him. But I attacked all my friends...as the Beast. I think it's a vision," he explained sadly.

"Harry, you could never hurt us," she told him.

He spun around quickly, startling her. "Hermione, it's becoming darker now. It doesn't want justice anymore. It wants pain and suffering. Hopelessness. _Death_. I think as I am becoming more drawn in, it becomes more violent and murdering. Yesterday, when I transformed, I saw a woman and her child walking down the streets of Hogsmeade...and I _wanted to kill them_. I don't want to be like this. Why can't you understand that?"

"I _do_ understand that, Harry. I just think that killing yourself is _not_ the answer. You need to trust me and learn to control it to an extent that you can _will _yourself _not _to transform," she told him.

He let out an exasperated groan. "I don't have time for that, Hermione! You don't know when this vision will come true!"

"_You _don't know if this vision _will_ come true!" she shot back at him. "I'm sick and tired of you acting like a martyr! To me, the Beast is a gift. A gift given to mankind to _save the world_! This world is falling to pieces! And I think that the Beast is exactly the kind of savior this world needs! You can do great things, Harry. You can save billions of people." He looked away from her, trying to grasp what she was saying.

"What if it does?" he asked quietly. "What if it _is _a vision and I will attack you?"

"Just...don't worry about it, okay?" she told him. "I'll be more alert from now on, okay?"

He nodded slowly and she kissed his cheek. "Okay, now get some sleep. Goodnight, Harry."

He watched her walk away with a sad look on his face.

"I love you," he whispered a few minutes later and then went up to bed.

Ron Weasely sat in his room, unable to sleep. Something was bothering him. He could not stop thinking about the Beast and how it took Hermione and she came back unscathed. The _thing _was a monster, a behemoth, a _freak!_ He was angry Hermione stuck up for that thing. It killed people. It tried to kill Hermione. His girl. But something in his mind was itching about Harry, too. Where was in during the party? And why did he come back with her? Did he save her?

Then Ron began to think about how Harry was never around when the Beast attacked. Where was he? Where did he go? He remembered when Harry tried to attack Hermione and he pulled him away from her, protecting her, but something knocked him out.

Ron gasped as he came to a conclusion.

Harry was the Beast.

He shot out of his bed to write a letter.

Harry sat with Hermione and Annabella in the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast. He kept getting glares from his former best friend. It wasn't unusual, but they were more angry-looking, like he was about to jump and kill him. Harry just ignored him and ate his breakfast in silence.

"Did you go back to sleep last night, Harry?" Hermione asked him after a while.

He nodded.

"Did you sleep well?"

He nodded once again. "Yeah, no nightmares."

"Good," she smiled.

He gave her a small one back as he finished his breakfast.

Suddenly, the big, oak doors burst open and several Ministry officials and Aurors rushed in. They looked around; searching for the face they wanted. Their eyes trained on Harry, who gazed up at them with confusion. The leader pointed to the seventeen year old and yelled to his fellow official members, "Arrest him!"

Hermione gasped as they grabbed Harry and pulled him out from his seat next to her. She stood as well. "Harry!"

"Harry Potter, you are placed under arrest for the murders of thirty-two wizards and twelve Muggles," the Ministry official exclaimed. "And as a threat to the world."

"A threat? You can't possibly-" Hermione protested but was cut off.

"Miss Granger, I would prefer if you did not interfere," the head Auror said.

"Let Harry go. He did not do anything wrong," she said firmly.

"He killed forty-four people, including his own family. That's a crime."

Hermione continued to follow them, protesting as she walked. "Please! Let him go! You're hurting him!" They did not listen to her. "Harry!"

Harry looked at her with sad eyes, the same ones he looked at her with the night before. He shook his head at her. Hermione stopped as she was shocked at the look on his face. '_Let them take me, Hermione_' it said. '_I must suffer the consequences for my actions._'

"No..." she shook her head. '_Harry, it was not your fault. You could not control it,_' she wanted to tell him, but the words would not come out.

She watched them take Harry, her beloved, away without a struggle. A lone tear rolled down her face as she watched them roughly handle him. He looked scared, yet willing to be put away. She felt something warm in her hand. She looked down and saw Annabella had slipped her small, petite hand in hers. She gave her a comforting smile. "What are they going to do with him, 'Mione?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know."

"Hopefully they'll destroy him before he destroys anything else," came a cold, yet happy voice. Hermione looked around and saw Ron Weasely grinning from ear to ear at the sight of Harry Potter being pulled away in handcuffs.

"You!" Hermione yelled at him. "You turned him in! How could you, Ron?" _SMACK!_ came her hand across his face. "He's a good person! He's a better man than you will ever be!"

"He's the _Beast!_" Ron yelled making the other people in the Great Hall gasp. "Isn't that right, Hermione? Yeah, I figured it out...all by myself. It was weird that Harry had never been around when the Beast was. Those blackouts. Waking up in random places naked. Shredded clothes. Guilt. Yeah, he's the Beast, alright. I can't believe you're defending him! He's a _monster! _He's ugly! And murderous! He killed people!"

"He's more human and more beautiful than you'll ever be, Ronald Weasely!" she seethed and tugged Annabella along as she fled the Great Hall.

"Ugh!" she yelled as she hit a desk when they got to the Heads' Common Room.

"That was not very nice of Ron," Annabella said very softly.

"No, it was _not!_" she cried agreeing with her.

Annabella sat down on the couch and looked at her guardian. "What do you think is going to happen to Harry?" she asked.

Hermione turned to look at her and began to breathe normally, calming down. She walked over to her charge and sat down next to her. She tucked a stray strand of the little girl's brown hair behind her ear. "I'm not sure. They said that Harry was a threat to the world. We both know what that means."

"The Beast," Annabella stated for her.

"Right. I don't know what they are going to do to him...but it scares me," she said as another tear fell down. "They think he killed innocent people. You and I both know that he killed criminals, right?"

Annabella nodded sadly, hoping her other guardian was okay.

Harry was scared as he was shoved into a glass box. He fell to the ground in a heap. He squinted when bright lights were cast upon him, blinding him. They had taken his clothes before so that he couldn't use them to escape with wandless magic. He curled into a ball and hunched over like a backwards "c". He put his hand on the glass as the Auror walked away without even a mere glance at him.

He sat back on his bottom and drew his knees to his chest, looking around his box. There was nothing else in there with him. He closed his eyes and thought of how he had gotten his wish.

He was arrested and caged, just like he wanted. He could no longer hurt anyone. He could no longer hurt the ones he loved. They were no longer in danger from him.

* * *

Over the next few days, he was questioned. He answered all of them truthfully. He told them he inherited the Beast gene from his father's side. He told them he killed forty-four people. He told them how he changed randomly and there was no telling when he would change.

Of course, the Aurors were indifferent on what to do with him. He was the famous "Boy-Who-Lived", but he was the Beast, as well. He was a threat to the world and to humanity.

Harry went along with what they said, not even defending himself.

Soon, his trial came and he was put in another cage, just like the one he was in before, made of glass, in the middle of the courtroom. He looked around the room and saw many members of the Wizengamot with their strange hats and cloaks. He saw the Minister of Magic, Scrimageour, in the big seat. He looked to the other side and saw the audience. His emerald-green eyes spied McGonagall, Neville, and Luna sitting on one side. On the other side were the Weaselys-Molly, Arthur, Ron, and Ginny. Ron looked glum as usual. Ginny looked a little afraid to be there.

Just as Harry was going to ask where Hermione when she and Annabella walked in through the doors. He smiled and crawled over to the glass wall where she was closest to and placed his hand on it.

"Harry…" he heard her say and rushed up to the cage. Before the Aurors could react, Hermione put her hand "on his" over the glass. But it only lasted a second before the Aurors pulled her away from him and into the stands with Annabella. "NO!" the teen cried as they pulled her away. They ended up next to Luna, who held Hermione as she began to cry.

"It's okay, Hermione…" she said. "Their heads are full of Nargles anyway."

Annabella took her other hand and held it. Harry looked up at her with sad eyes and a sad smile as the trial started.

"Harry James Potter, you are charged with the deaths of forty-four people. How do you plead?" Scrimageour said.

Harry sighed and without hesitation said, "Guilty."

Hermione gasped and began to cry harder. "No."

"We will examine the evidence and testimonies of eyewitnesses." He paused and looked at a sheet of paper in front of him. "The Wizengamot calls Professor Minerva McGonagall to the stand, please."

McGonagall stood and walked over to the seat in the middle of the room, next to the cage. "Professor, how long have you known Mr. Potter?" one member of the Wizengamot asked. He was interrogating her.

"Since he was a baby. I was very close with his parents, but after they died, he was sent to live with his relatives-"

"The _same _relatives Mr. Potter murdered?"

McGonagall gulped, but answered, "Yes."

"So, now how would you describe Mr. Potter infancy?"

"He was...a happy little baby. Loved to play with his father's Golden Snitch. Loved his mother. Loved his father. A happy child."

"So, there were no tantrums?"

"No..." Now she was confused. What were they getting at?

"We questioned Mr. Potter and he told me that the Beast gene is hereditary. Surely, he would have had it when he was a baby," the Auror reasoned.

"He didn't get the gene until he turned seventeen."

"Ahh, so it is an adulthood thing, is it?" He paused before asking, "Have you ever seen the Beast?"

"I watched him turn into the Beast."

"So, you are confirming that Mr. Potter _is _in fact the Beast?"

"Yes."

"Okay, thank you, Professor," the Auror said dismissing her.

Professor McGonagall left her seat and went sit down back in her original spot.

"The Wizengamot calls Ronald Weasely to the stand, please."

Hermione, Annabella, and Harry glared as Ron sat down next to the cage. "Mr. Weasely, how long have you known Mr. Potter?"

"About seven years."

"Okay, has Mr. Potter shown any sign of anger?"

"Well, lately he has," he smirked at Harry in the cage, who growled at him. "I saw him try to assault Hermione Granger. He seemed to be really mad at her for something. Then, he had stormed into a birthday party as the Beast and took Hermione away."

"After seeing Mr. Potter in his Beast form, what would you sum him up to be?"

"He's a dangerous monster."

"That will be all."

Ron gave Harry one last glare before he resumed his seat.

"Would Miss Hermione Granger please come to the stand?"

Hermione stood up and walked over to the chair in the middle of the room. She gave Harry a soft smile, which he returned with a small one of his own. She sat down and waited for the interrogation to start.

"So, Miss Granger, you have seen Mr. Potter in his Beast form, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, I have."

"Would you agree with Mr. Weasely that he is a 'dangerous monster'?"

"No," she said immediately. "He's not a monster."

"Explain that, please."

"He saved me and Annabella from being killed. He only kills bad people. He had the chance of killing me, but he didn't. Harry Potter is _not _a monster!" she said firmly.

Harry smiled at her, glad that someone, besides McGonagall, didn't believe he was a murderous killer. Even he thought himself of a killer. He thought himself of a murderer. A _monster!_ He watched as his best friend was interrogated even more.

"So, Mr. Potter saved you? How?"

"Well, I was in Hogsmeade, looking for him. I wanted to make sure he was okay. But then I heard a scream, so I ran to an alley where I saw a man trying to kill Annabella. I saved her, but then he shot the _Cruciatus Curse _at me a couple of times, but then Harry-the Beast-came and saved us. He killed him, yes, but he was protecting us. He's _anything _but a monster! The _real_ monster was what tried to kill us!" she said strongly.

"Has there been any sign of anything that can calm him?"

"Me. He seems to be calm around me," she answered truthfully.

"Okay, thank you, Miss Granger. You may step down."

Hermione stood from the chair and gave Harry one last smile before going to sit down next to Annabella and Luna. The Wizengamot interrogated Luna, Neville, and even little Annabella, asking them the same questions. Each of them concluded that Harry Potter was not a monster.

"The Wizengamot would like to call Mr. Harry Potter to the stand, but since he is being caged, we will just have to interrogate him in there," Minister Scrimageour said.

A member of the Wizengamot stood and walked over to Harry's cage. "Mr. Potter, how long have you been the Beast?"

"Since midnight on my seventeenth birthday. That's when it started."

"And it says here that your relatives, the Durselys, were killed on your birthday and you were missing..."

"Yes," Harry hung his head in shame. "I k-killed them. They locked me in my room all the time. They beat me. Abuse me. They're Muggles, you see, and do not like our kind. Something in me just compelled me to kill them for all of the torture I've endured in my life that they caused."

"Where did you go after that?"

"I woke up at Hermione's house. My instincts just told me to go there. Although, I don't remember deciding to go there or going there, just waking up."

They continued to ask more questions. Soon, the big one came. "Do you think, Mr. Potter, that you are a monster?"

Harry inhaled deeply and let it out heavily. "Yes, yes, I do. I am a monster. I don't like killing people, whether they are good or bad."

"But Miss Granger said that you are doing it because you have a desire to protect people."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but it still doesn't give me the right to kill. I feel its becoming darker. It wants to kill even more. Its becoming uncontrollable. Please, I don't want to be this way."

"That will be all, Mr. Potter. The Wizengamot will take thirty minutes to talk this over," the Wizengamt member said. He walked with the rest of his fellow staff members and the Minister of Magic to a silent-proof room in the back.

Harry sat back down in his cage and waited, not looking at anything or anyone. Hermione just watched her best friend. He looked so lonely and scared. She wished she could comfort him. He didn't need this. She knew she could calm him. Why couldn't they just let him go and the two could run away together to the countryside and nothing could anger him or make him change? He wouldn't have to be afraid of harming her. He wouldn't have to kill. They would be at peace.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the Wizengamot and the Minister of Magic came back. They got right to the point. "We have decided. Mr. Harry James Potter is found guilty of killing forty-four people. He is a threat to the world. He will be caged as his sentence. However...Mr. Potter can also be used as a weapon. We believe Mr. Potter, the Chosen One, was chosen to be this Beast to defeat our long-time enemy, Lord Voldemort. Therefore, we will keep Mr. Potter caged until You-Know-Who comes and then we'll release him."

An uproar broke out in the courtroom. "You can't do that!" Hermione shouted, but no one heard her.

Harry became angry and felt himself beginning to change. "NO!" he bellowed. He stood up and put his hands on the glass, leaning on it as he forced himself not to change. Everyone watched in silence as he forced it back. Two Aurors opened the cage and grabbed his arms, containing him. Hermione watched as they hurt him. A tear rolled down her cheek as they knocked him out. "Harry..." she breathed out.

Harry fell on his stomach with his head turned toward his supporters. The ones that believed him. The ones that believed _in_ him. The last thing he saw before he black out was Hermione's Beautiful face with a lone tear rolling down her left cheek.

TBC...

* * *

**Well, there's chapter 6! Hope you liked it.**

**Pleez review!**

**DREWHHR**


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